Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Qatar and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing CMW to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Nico. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deepchord record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Girls At Our Best!,
Donald Byrd,
Kerrie Biddell,
One Last Wish,
Lindisfarne,
Swell Maps,
Essential Logic,
X-101,
The Human League,
The Motions,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Neu!,
Davy DMX,
Henry Cow,
Yazoo,
The Golliwogs,
Warsaw,
Young Marble Giants,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Amon Düül,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Parry Music,
Silicon Teens,
Bang On A Can,
Circle Jerks,
Eurythmics,
Mary Jane Girls,
Maleditus Sound,
The Modern Lovers,
The Smoke,
Blossom Toes,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
MDC,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Bauhaus,
The Techniques,
Intrusion,
Rufus Thomas,
Spoonie Gee,
Susan Cadogan,
Subhumans,
Country Teasers,
Rosa Yemen,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Jawbox,
Arcadia,
Pussy Galore,
the Soft Cell,
Swans,
Godley & Creme,
The Toasters,
Symarip,
The Mojo Men,
Roy Ayers,
Sam Rivers,
Matthew Halsall,
Groovy Waters,
The Slits,
The Cure, The Cure, The Cure, The Cure.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.